Bucs drop pair of contests to Golden Eagles

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (March 5, 2022) – ETSU Softball watched Tennessee Tech play spoiler on Saturday as the Golden Eagles ruined ETSU’s home opener with a pair of wins. With the losses, ETSU drops to 4-13 on the campaign and 0-2 at Betty Basler Field.

Game 1: Tennessee Tech 4, ETSU 3
Tennessee Tech struck the first blow in the opening game with a two-run double off the bat of Carmen Betts in the top half of the first inning.

ETSU responded quickly in the bottom of the first inning with a one-out screamer up the middle by Riley Tucker (Mount Pleasant, N.C.), bringing home both Kelly Warren (Mechanicsville, Va.) and Andrea Sarhatt (Knoxville, Tenn.). Two batters later, the Bucs jumped on top after Bailey Turnbow (Cookeville, Tenn.) drove home Tucker with an RBI single through the right side of the infield.

After three quiet innings where the two teams combined for two hits, Tennessee Tech evened the game at 3-3 in the top half of the fifth inning as Mackenzie Fitzgerald roped a tomahawk homer over the left field fence.

The Bucs looked to have a good chance at jumping back on top in the bottom of the fifth with a leadoff double from Tucker, but the next three batters were sat down quietly.

The Golden Eagles captured the lead for good in the top of the seventh when Shelby Penning reached on a fielder’s choice, bringing home Brooklin Richardson who slid underneath the ETSU tag at the plate to give Tennessee Tech the 4-3 edge.

The Bucs were dismissed in order in the bottom of the seventh to finish off the opening game of Saturday’s doubleheader.

Pitchers of Record
» Win: Alyssa Arden (5-4)
» Loss: Whitley Arnott (0-5)

Notables
» The Bucs outhit the Golden Eagles, 7-5, led by Tucker with her third multi-hit game of the season and first multi-RBI performance.
» The big story for the Blue & Gold in game one was ETSU finishing 2-of-11 with runners in scoring position and stranding seven Buccaneers on base.
» Allison Farr (Knoxville, Tenn.) logged six innings of work for the Bucs, yielding four earned runs on five hits.
» Both teams played solid defense with no errors during the opening game from either side.
» ETSU falls to 11-21 all-time against Tennessee Tech following the loss in game one.

Game 2: Tennessee Tech 9, ETSU 4
Game two started much the same as game one with the Golden Eagles crossing the plate first, this time an RBI single from Betts to the shortstop for the 1-0 lead.

Sarhatt got the Buccaneer offense started in the bottom of the first inning with a triple off the right center fence and was able to cross home plate after an errant throw by the Golden Eagles. Three batters later, ETSU capitalized on another Tennessee Tech blunder. This time it was Tucker coming home safely from third after a dropped fly ball in left field, giving ETSU the 2-1 advantage.

The Golden Eagles’ bats came to life in the fourth and fifth inning, scoring seven unanswered runs on five hits and two ETSU errors. Haeli Bryson was a big part of that, leading off both frames with a solo blast to left field.

ETSU cut the deficit to 8-3 in the bottom of the sixth after an RBI single from Sara Muir (Sequatchie, Tenn.), bringing home Cameron Young (Knoxville, Tenn.). However, Tennessee Tech stretched the lead back to six runs with a single in the seventh inning. The Bucs made one final push after Warren sent an RBI single up the middle to trim the lead to 9-4 with zero outs in the seventh. Unfortunately, that was as close as the Bucs would get down the stretch, setting for the five-run loss.

Pitchers of Record
» Win: Alyssa Arden (6-4)
» Loss: Riley Tucker (1-4)

Notables
» It was a multi-hit performance in game two for both Warren and Sarhatt, combining for four of the team’s eight hits.
» Between the two games, ETSU finished the day 4-of-20 with runners in scoring position, leaving a total of 13 runners on base.
» Riley Tucker (Mount Pleasant, N.C.) suffered the loss in the circle, giving up five runs (three earned) in 3.0 innings of work.
» Redshirt-senior MacKenzie Dyson (Hanahan, S.C.) added 3.0 innings and allowed three runs (one earned) on two hits. Muir finished the game in the circle, tossing the final inning and surrendering one run.
» ETSU drops to 11-22 all-time against the Golden Eagles.

Record Update
» ETSU: 4-13
» Tennessee Tech: 11-6

Up Next
The Bucs will close out the three-game series on Sunday with the first pitch commencing at 1 p.m.

For more information on Buccaneer softball, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the softball link.